super cute things

When the girls heard we were all going to a party tonight, they insisted on wearing dresses that twirled 'for when we dance' and that J wear a tie ( he declined) and I also wear a twirly dress. It was a going away bbq for a work person. Not really a dance a thon hee hee.

When I was putting them to bed, Meg was holding the shirt I was wearing yesterday. I asked her what she was doing with it, and she said she wanted to sleep with it 'because it smells like you Mommy'. Then Mad asked for one too. I remember doing the exact same thing with my mom when I was little. It was very sweet, but also a little bittersweet too remembering that.

Mere is now saying woof woof, meow meow and blowing a raspberry when you ask her what a dog, cat and elephant say.

This morning Meg was explaining how she loves to put on 'Tiger Boom" because it smells so good. Tiger Balm.

Lake Leelanau

I have like a million pics from our trip up north and I just grabbed a few. I will try to add some more lay-tah. To make it short and succinct- if you haven't been there you are seriously missing out! Are you with me M and D?

Antibiotics

My girls fortunately have never needed to be on antibiotics until this summer. All three got some kind of something when we were in SF in May that was surely viral but I was desperate. Then they got strep throat a month later. Now Meg has this weird Staph infection on her thigh.

I feel like I broke the seal on the antibiotics and their systems are now all out of whack. I know what Grandma Bunny would do- she would have them on probiotics 24/7. It really does seem to me though that one dose of antibiotics has bought us a lot more need for them. Maybe it is a government conspiracy?

Milestones

A. I finished class today. I am 4 credits closer to a PhD!!

2. Mere can officially be in the basement or in the big girls room without me! Lord I have waited for this moment!!

D. I need to think of a D.

Mere's 30 seconds of fame

We biked home today past the filming of Scream 4, which is about two blocks from our house. They were filming a scene with Hayden Pantierre and Neve Campbell in the front seat of a car. Everyone was supposed to be quiet and they blocked us from biking on since we would be in the way of the camera. Mere started crying demanding her 'hi' which is my cell phone. Her crying interrupted the scene and may possibly make it in the movie, which is too bad since I will never see it. I wanted to stick around SO BAD and star gaze ( do they count as stars?) but princess fussypants wasn't allowing it.

happy birthday Daddy!

SA in the MN

Hanging out in the MN airport. We had a great trip to Santa Fe, and while the cost of the babysitter was roughly the cost of flying all the chilrens down there with us, it was worth it to have the QT with just the two of us. And the hotel had Frette linens- I have to say, I didnt think they were worth all the blather I hear about them in magazines and such.

One neat thing- I now know where the Granddad got his turquoise bolo that he used to wear all the time. And where Grandma got that bracelet that is different color stones, remember it? It lost a stone and mom went to a jeweler to have it replaced. There is a whole row of Native American jewelry makers in the main square of Santa Fe selling the identical stuff. It was neat to think of the grandparents there on a continuing medical education trip, just like J and I, shopping just where we were. A caveat- I decided to buy a similar bracelet because they are really beautiful and also because it seemed a special way to honor the grandparents memory. A very similar one was priced at $450. I am sure the vendor saw my jaw drop. There is inflation for you. Maybe I will get one on the next trip...........

Meganism

Mad: talking about getting a puppy

J: explaining how the puppy may have a to wait a year or two

Meg: Why dont we just get a bear cub instead?

Things, life, what not

I had a sitter here when Mere got up from her nap. I couldnt find the beloved brown blanky anywheres. Usually we have a strict rule that BB does not leave the crib. I tore the house apart before I called the sitter. She said BB was outside on the deck. I finally located brown blanky by the back fence in the yard, tucked in with a doll. I just thought it was so typically funny of having kids- its not in the bathroom or in the kitchen, no it is outside under a fence.

Our camera is off getting repaired. I am heartbroken. It will be one to four weeks before it gets back.

J is in Santa Fe and I am joining him tomorrow. I totally have PTSD right now, that is PreTrip Stress Disorder. I am racing around the house cleaning and mowing the yard and and avoiding homework and putting away our load of veggies from our CSA and emailing and writing notes to the sitter when really I dont have that much to do. This will be the first time we have left the girls overnight with a sitter. She was with us in Ghana for the whole month and she is totally and completely competent. And expensive. I have never been to NM ( just like I had never been to MN til last week!). I am excited for a honeymoon - it is our 12th anniversary.

I just read the book The Hunger Games. It is YA fiction but was really good. It is a trilogy and I will start the second book on the plane tomorrow- I cant wait! If you want a not quite Twilightish read, I recommend.

I only have 5 more days of class til I am done for the summer. WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Regression Analysis can suck it!

Construction, Destruction,

So the montage below details the construction work we just did on the old hizzouse. The plan was to put in a sliding glass door where a window had been residing for the past maybe 60 years? It would lead to an eventual deck which will someday become a screened porch which will someday have a brand new master suite above it. So J and I dont have good boundaries and we dont know when to say when. I think the pics below speak for themselves but let me tell you a little more..... The sliding glass door was no big deal. Then they decided to go for the deck. Great! When they were putting in the door they noticed hardwoods under the tile in the kitchen so we decided to take up the tile and expose the hardwoods. Not great! It turned out that half the kitchen had beautiful old maple floors, and the other half used to be that screened porch I am wanting. So now our kitchen has half hardwoods, half porch boards and half 1940s tile. As we were lamenting this over the dregs of the keg of Oberon, my beloved father in law said, oh hell, lets just see what is in the ceiling ( there is this false beam in the ceiling....). So next thing I know, we are all knocking into it with hammers and boop- we learn that there is nothing in there. It was just put there to hide the fact that when they converted the porch into the rest of the kitchen, the ceiling heights didnt match.

So the bottom line is....no boundaries, dont know when to say when, now have to redrywall the ceiling and get new floors in the kitchen which if I had to bet my bippy, I would say will lead to new cabinets, new appliances.....

Northwoods

I had an awesome time in WI. In my short time there I went waterski-ing ( got up on the second try woo), fishing, kayaking at sunset, berry picking ( wild blueberries and raspberries), did some jam making and other cooking, read a book ( the Hunger Games), toured Duluth, MN, and had major family bonding with the 17 other family members there.

One downer- my beloved six month old camera broke! I'll bet Best Buy wont take it back either. But I think it is still under warranty.


I had a buttheaded experience at security at the Duluth airport. Can I have a minute to complain? First they made me dump out Mere's sippy cup of wawa and since it is a tiny airport, there wasnt a water fountain or a bathroom behind security. I have never had to dump any kid related drink. And there is even a bathroom behind security in Marsh Harbor, a tinier airport. Second, I had a less than three ounce bottle of sunscreen in my bag that they found on xray. They treated it like it was a hydrogen bomb or something. First they berated me for it, specifically ' you have violated a TSA regulation, you were clearly asked if you had liquids and you did not declare it', took all my stuff out of my sight, then rescreened all my stuff, THEN came back and told me because I violated the rules, I had to exit the secure area and be totally rescreened again ( so that was me and Mere screened twice, my luggage three times). Bc of a 2 ounce thing of Target sunscreen. I felt like the bad kid that had to go to the end of the line. I was literally escorted out of the secure area and had to go to the end of the security line, break down the stroller again, take my shoes off again, etc etc. Yah, bc of a 2 ounce thing of sunscreen. I asked them really nicely if it was truly necessary given that they found they highly offensive item AND bc I was holding a screaming toddler, but no, they apparently really really really needed me to be rescreened since I was such a high security risk bc of 2 oz bottle of sunscreen.